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NYUAD Professors Publish First Emirati Arabic Textbook

A copy of Ramsah at NYU Abu Dhabi's bookstore.

September 13, 2015

NYU Abu Dhabi professors have published the first-ever modern standard Arabic language textbook for the Emirati dialect. Titled Ramsah, which means "talk" in Emirati Arabic, the 352-page workbook and audio guide will serve as a resource for educators and students in the UAE and beyond.

"Ramsah is designed to provide learners with the tools they need to learn the Emirati dialect used in the UAE and the surrounding region," said NYUAD Arabic Professor Nasser Isleem. "By providing learners with a rich cultural and linguistic approach through real life situations, along with the audio materials that accompany the textbook, we hope it will make the acquisition of Emirati Arabic easier to learn as a living language for everyday use.”

Arabic is the sixth most commonly spoken language in the world. The instruction and exercises in Ramsah concentrate on the structure, vocabulary, pronunciation, culture, grammar, and real-life daily use of the language, Nasser said.

Co-author and NYUAD Language Immersion Specialist Ayesha Al Hashemi added, "My hope is that language students as well as interested visitors and residents, not only at NYUAD, will now have a new resource to use in their language and culture learning experiences be it in an academic setting, as part of their cultural or professional development, or individually."